Saturday, May 06, 2006

Thinx 42: For the Children of Wrath

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. --Rom 11:29

If the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable, 'without repentance' as other translations put it, does this mean that the call to mission and service that God placed on my life in the mid 80s still applies?

One might think not. I have spent about 8 of my 45 years as a cross-cultural missionary. Some might say that I have done my dash, that now is the time to rejoin the rat-race.

Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you shall have peace. --Jer 29:7 (WEB)

Vast numbers of Australians are surging over the cliff into the abyss. Can I stand by, or go along with the flow, and do nothing about the lives about to be destroyed before my eyes? At the edge of the precipice, I will fly. But others will plummet.

Can I, can we Christians, avoid being damaged by a society in decline? Australia continues to erase the name and the memory of God out of all traditions and institutions. History repeats itself, for other cultures have done this too, and have suffered accordingly.

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves.--Rom 1:18 (NLT)

If the stealing of children on their way to and from school increases, how long before it's one of our kids? If road-rage increases, how long before someone we know and love is damaged by another's anger? If corporate corruption continues, how long before we suffer the loss of savings and investments?

Are we somehow immune from societal collapse? No! We are not. If we do not actively seek the peace of the city and the soclety in which we live, we will suffer, and so will our children.

If I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can't [contain]. --Jer 20:9 (WEB)

If I believe then I must speak, and I must act. I cannot simply care for the church and leave the outside world to take care of itself. We need pastors, preachers, and Sunday School teachers. But we also need evangelists, chaplains and SRE teachers. We're well set up for those who frequent our houses of worship. But what of those who never darken the door of a church; whose parents and grandparents are un-churched? Is there nothing to be done for the children of wrath?